


Cherry Blossom Dances

by littlemisstpk



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Yakuza, Consequences, Explicit Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-17 22:09:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 12,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21517252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlemisstpk/pseuds/littlemisstpk
Summary: For over a decade, Akiteru has run from his past as a yakuza. As careful as he was leaving, he didn't expect the past to show up on his doorstep.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei, Tanaka Saeko & Tsukishima Akiteru, Tsukishima Akiteru/Udai Tenma
Comments: 18
Kudos: 57





	1. Sixteen

Akiteru's feet pounded the streets, rain filling his ears as the distant shouts of Dateko enforcers came closer and closer. He wound his way at a dead run through the back alleys of Sendai, twisting second nature - this wasn’t the first time that Akiteru had to shake off an enemy family. He was Karasuno, Karasuno was ruthless, and so he was a target attacked on sight. He hadn't done anything-- at least, not this time. 

Akiteru stopped at the alley mouth, glistening from the rainfall, and watched the skirmish in the shadows. Eight thugs had surrounded a small man in a circle of storefront signage light -Udai. He laughed. 

It was not a fair fight. The Seijoh crowd needed at least eight more before they could properly take on Udai, especially when he had a knife.

Akiteru watched as Udai dodged and weaved, his knife striking key spots, a transfixing dance that kept Akiteru in place. The reverse grip on the knife hid the lethality... it didn’t take long for the small man to be the only one left standing, and Akiteru couldn't tell whether the streaks of red covering his clothing was Udai's own, or.... Judging from his reputation and the display, it probably wasn’t. 

Chills ran up Akiteru’s spine as Udai’s gaze was both seeing and unseeing. Grey eyes and short, wavy hair weren’t enough to soften Udai's appearance; instead it made him look tougher and older than his young, round face would suggest. The bloody water pooled on the ground, the afterglow of neon light refracted in the small pools, framed Udai like a dark, avenging angel. 

Udai turned and left the alleyway, left without a word, left Akiteru yearning for a man that he wasn't sure fully existed.


	2. Thirty Four, I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akiteru gets confronted with his past.

Akiteru wakes up with a start. As he turns on his phone screen, he squints at the light coming forth, barely shielding his eyes from the onslaught attacking his eyes. He throws the offending object towards the foot of his bed when it reads four-thirty in the morning, as he lets out a groan at the time. If he waits the hour and a half until his normal alarm sounds, Akiteru knows that he would be back in that blood-soaked alleyway. 

Instead, he rises and starts his coffeemaker. While it percolates, a cat chirps and quickly pads over to where he's standing. He gives Akachan's head a scratch as she weaves between his legs, purring in anticipation of food. He quickly pats her long, calico fur as he places the dish in front of her, and she hungrily dives in. 

Taking a sip of his coffee as he relaxes at the table, he watches as the food disappears into his pet almost as quickly as he was able to dish it out. There is something comforting about the fact that such a tiny, murderous creature could look so innocent and inspire such kindness, because it means there is hope for him in continuing to overcome his past. Akiteru laughs to himself as Akachan flops onto her side, and exposes her belly. He snaps a picture to send to his only friend back home, Saeko, over LINE.

He’s the first one to arrive at the office not long after, and he takes the opportunity of the peace and quiet to study the news of the previous afternoon and evening, all to help make his predictions for the buying and selling fervour in the Tokyo Stock Exchange. If there was anything he’d learned since starting university at age twenty, it’s that he has a knack for numbers. It isn't quite at the same level as his little brother, who could hold small family businesses hostage with a few simple keystrokes and a well-placed smirk, but it's enough to set him apart without the need for his tattoos and past reputation scaring people into giving him what he wanted. 

Still, his efforts are appreciated by his bosses, and it doesn’t require harming other people directly, so it's a win in his books. His younger co-workers are prone to complaining about how soul-sucking stock trading is as a profession, and Akiteru raises his eyebrows at their inexperience. They clearly do not know what they are talking about, or have much exposure to the real world as he knows it. 

By the time lunch rolls around, Akiteru finds himself on the receiving end of an invitation to the new ramen shop near the office. "The server there is adorable," the youngest of his female co-workers, Natsu-chan, gushes. Akiteru laughs, as he picks up his wallet to join the group. 

The ramen spot is slightly upgraded from being a pop-up street stand: it is in a cozy storefront directly across the street from Akiteru's office high-rise in Shibuya. It is just protected enough from the outside world that Akiteru could see it being a haven for business dealings from his former life, but as he takes an outside seat at the booth's table, he forces himself to shake those thoughts away. Akiteru has made great strides to not connect his Tokyo life with his Sendai life, and he isn't going to let today be any exception. 

When the server arrives to take their orders, Akiteru is particularly struck by how familiar he is. He is slightly shorter than average height, soft wavy hair tied loosely in a short ponytail, and a mischievous twinkle in his eye as the smile grows into every nook and cranny on his face while greeting Akiteru’s group of coworkers. The only thing that gives away his age as being generally close to Akiteru's are the faint laugh lines on his cheeks and the creases left from years of furrowed brows, both of which are easily overlooked by someone less observant. Akiteru understands why all the women in the office are here today; this man could sell even the shittiest ramen with his bright smile and a couple of polite jokes. Natsu-chan in particular goes as red as her hair while she giggles at his professional banter when it’s aimed her way. 

The moment breaks when Akiteru makes eye contact with the server, and the stony mask appears. The soft edges leave, and for that split second before the smile returns, Akiteru fears for his life. He finally recognizes the figure in front of him, who features in several recurring nightmares. 

The smile doesn’t return to Udai's eyes after that moment. 

With the group’s orders taken, Akiteru excuses himself to the bathroom, the reminders of his past life constricting his breath just as suddenly as they had come in. 

Just as he ducks out of sight of most of his co-workers, but before he could reach the tiny, single-stalled bathroom, Akiteru is pinned to the wall by a still-very-strong left forearm pushing up against his chest. Udai's murderous gaze is more than enough to keep Akiteru in place, but it certainly doesn't hurt that the point of a chef’s knife threatening to jab the taller man in the side is also a good motivation to not move. 

"Why are you here?" Udai hisses, nearly inaudibly. 

Akiteru's heart skips a few beats, and he forces his breathing to calm. "These are my co-workers. I have nothing to do with the family anymore." Akiteru holds up gnarled knuckles as an easy demonstration of his sacrifice to leave. "I left my business up north where it belongs." 

Udai withdraws the knife poking into Akiteru's right side after a bit of a push against the wall. There is a slight jab of metal that doesn’t break skin, but the feral glint in Udai’s eyes remains, far more lively than any dream Akiteru's mind recalls. The force of pushing the taller man against the wall dislodges Udai's rolled sleeves just enough that portions of cherry blossoms become visible just at the elbow. Akiteru knows exactly what they mean: it’s a blossom for each person Udai has killed, and he has many more hidden under his shirt. 

It’s safe for Akiteru to assume that Udai is no longer active nor undercover, the metallic glint of the chef’s knife serving as tangible evidence that he isn’t the only one who escaped. The hints of Udai’s tattoos and their meanings aren’t something where Akiteru can judge. He hasn't killed anyone, at least not directly with his own hands. He's put enough people in the hospital when he didn't get his way as a teen, not even counting the times he acted on orders from the old man when he needed to send a message. 

Leaving the smaller man behind, Akiteru retreats to the bathroom in order to return to his co-workers in a timely fashion. He couldn't shake the glare tossed in his direction from Udai.


	3. Eighteen, I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akiteru gets more of his tattoo completed.

All Akiteru needed to finish his dragon was some geometric clouds to create a background. Then, he reasoned, he could leave without regrets. He had already marred his skin so that going into a conventional bath house required a series of questions that he didn't particularly want to answer. Completing the tattoo was worth the wait before he made his move. 

The family horishi encouraged his clients to come in early in order to show off his work, and that was exactly what Akiteru did. As he took a seat in the secluded corner of the room, he was greeted with a view of a shirtless Udai. His small body was rippling with muscle, contrasting with the sweet looking cherry blossoms spread out against his torso. Sprouting out of his left hip, a gnarly tree trunk grew and dipped below the waist of his pants. The top of its growth nestled under his left armpit, and flower-laden branches criss-crossed his body, windswept and fluttering as if in the middle of a stiff breeze. The sakura petals precariously hung onto their bloom, their petals vibrant and full of life despite their position.

Akiteru had seen similar designs on others with a dark, geometric background to fill in the gaps, but he quickly noticed four flowers that looked particularly angry, artfully drawn in such a way as to fit in with the earlier additions seamlessly. Udai looked at the new blooms with sunken, dead eyes, and even though he was sitting on the other side of the room, Akiteru heard Udai's loud, tired sigh as clearly as if he were sitting right next to the smaller man. Udai had a reputation for being deadly, and the longer that he worked to thwart Shiratorizawa and Seijoh in the shadows, the more blossoms flowered across his chest and back.

He didn't have any firm escape plans, but at eighteen, Akiteru looked for any excuse to flee and regain some of his humanity. The face of the seventeen year old in front of him appeared at least fifty. As Udai's new ink was wrapped and protected, Akiteru understood the weight that he was feeling. It was too familiar to his own.


	4. Thirty Four, II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An early morning chat at the office.

Akiteru’s eyes startle open, and after a quick glance at his phone, he drops it on his face in defeat. It’s yet another day of waking up too early with dreams of his former life plaguing his being. It isn't the normal gruesome acts that he had committed or was witness to, but instead peaceful, almost normal, and that alone is something that set him on edge. Blood he is used to; it is the lack of a clear opponent that set his nerves on fire, even more than a decade later. 

His hands and ribs ache horribly, signalling him to the storm that radio weather forecasters say is due to arrive by the afternoon. Still, he manages to crawl out of his bed, pop some acetaminophen into his mouth, and go about his normal morning routine. Akachan demands a small amount of attention, and the warmth of her fur dulls the throbbing in his hands from old boxer's fractures before the medication takes over the work.

He ends up at the office even earlier than normal, after the medication kicks in. The sharp ache dulls to a constant pain that is only bearable, and serves as a reminder that his teenage years are not simply a nightmare, but in fact was all too real.

This time, however, he's not the first one at the office. Natsu-chan stares grumpily at the coffee maker, willing it to brew faster, and Akiteru laughs as he approaches. It's not often that she gets there before he does, but their circumstances, while not exactly the same, have enough overlap that the bags under her eyes are not as prominent as the ones under his, but they almost disappear from view when she smiles. 

When they first met, her keen eyes, normally used to spot minor changes in a stock's pattern to make the company a ton of money, noticed the edge of the cloud his blue dragon was flying through while his shirt shifted too much, and instead of condemning him, she befriended him. She looks too much like her brother, and Kei looks too much like him. Their mutual siblings are as thick as the thieves they actually were back in Sendai.

(Akiteru went and altered the rest of his dress shirts to prevent a recurrence with someone less sympathetic.) 

"You know, a watched pot never boils." Akiteru sets up his mug so that it's ready for when Natsu finishes. 

She yawns, and replies, "It'll finish whether I watch it or not. I don't want to forget about it, is all. You're talking to the person who was looking for the ID  _ that was always in my hand."  _ She punctuates the statement with a shake of an empty fist, but the ID in question jiggles at her waist. 

Akiteru laughs and leaves the joke at that. 

Natsu-chan's face falls almost as quickly, and a scowl that should have been foreign to her face settles in. "Tsukishima-san, why did you end up leaving?" 

Akiteru sighs, and absently flexes his hands in an attempt to will the arthritis that plagues the punch-crushed sections of both his hands away to the abyss where it belongs. "I didn't like the person the life was making me into." Akiteru grabs the freshly brewed pot of coffee and pours himself and Natsu-chan each a mugful. "You need to have guts to survive in that world, and I really don't have any." 

Natsu-chan sighs. "Guts is about all my brother has." She frowns into her mug. "He called yesterday, and he kept going on about someone called The Little Giant, and how he was an inspiration? It makes me worry about him." 

Akiteru snorts at the comment. "You know, you've actually met The Little Giant." 

Natsu-chan's eyebrow quirks. "Who? Shouyou would be so jealous!" 

"You know that really cute server from the ramen shop yesterday? The one you kept blushing over?" Akiteru looks smug. 

Her jaw drops. "No way! That's why he recognized you! He's so adorable, I wouldn't have realized it!" 

Akiteru points his finger in the air, and sagely added, "It's the cute ones you have to watch out for, they'll get under your skin before you know it." 

Natsu-chan lightly smacks Akiteru in the ribs with the back of her hand, laughing as she makes her way to her desk. 


	5. Eighteen, II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akiteru leaves the yakuza life for good.

Akiteru leaned over the balcony railing of Karasuno headquarters, looking at the bustle of cars skittering through the night. It was almost transfixing, watching the lights flitting by, unaware of the war going on around them. 

There was no other way to describe the situation except a war: Dateko had blockaded most of the black market trade behind an iron-clad system of sellers loyal only to them, well organized and profitable. This had caused the team-based Seijoh and the sheer power of Shiratorizawa to come to a truce to strike back against Dateko, leaving Karasuno to pick up the crumbs. 

And how there were crumbs to pick up. Akiteru had only heard rumours of how the streets were running red with non-Karasuno blood, and the look on Old Man Ukai's face gave him shivers as he smiled at Irihata, Oiwake, and Washijo's joint misfortune at meeting his Little Giant where he was the strongest, in the shadows. The old man hadn't favoured Akiteru in a long time, which made him all the more thankful as he absently planned his departure. 

The massive feud had started long before Akiteru started doing odd jobs for Ukai, and after nine years, it showed no signs of stopping. 

The door slid open behind him, and Akiteru turned toward Takinoue, who was intruding his quiet space. The sharp movement of his shirt over his sore, freshly completed tattoo smarted and stung. 

"Anything interesting out here?" Despite being really good friends with the boss's cruel grandson, Takinoue was relatively easy to get along with. 

Akiteru looked back to the street below. "Just the usual." He didn't have to vocalize that the usual included bloodshed and extreme opportunism that he didn't have the stomach for, but Takinoue nodded in understanding. 

"I think soon, the Seijoh-Shiratorizawa alliance will collapse and it will be harder to weaken Dateko." Takinoue joined Akiteru, leaning over the railing to his left. "It's lucky that Shimada is good with people, he might be the only way to deal with Dateko if that happens. Udai is only good while people are distracted." 

He grunted noncommittally. After a moment's pause, Akiteru turned to his senior, and asked, "Will it ever end?" 

Takinoue hesitated, and shrugged. "Probably not. If it ended, where's the fun in that?" A small smile grew over his face, cutting a gruesome figure. 

Akiteru's stomach dropped. Takinoue gave him the worst possible answer. As he turned back to watching the street below him, the idle thoughts of running turned to the beginnings of a concrete itinerary. He was going to leave, even if it meant leaving Kei and his mother behind. Kei, fortunately, was still ignorant to why his brother was able to support the three of them with the comfort that they currently had. Their mother, while still not strong, showed the earliest beginnings of being able to return to work within the year. 

It led him to the point a few days later where he stared down Karasuno’s most brutish enforcers, such as the boss's grandson, whose fists were prepared to punch his traitorous self into submission. It wasn't in a spot that most sane people would purposefully look, but the alleyway was large enough to make an example of the blond man to other yakuza and citizens too curious for their own good. 

He was almost willing to let them beat him fully into a pulp, but a soft, high-pitched "Tsukki!" rang out in the distance, and Akiteru's face dropped as he met the young, teenaged face of his brother, and his tagalong Tadashi. There was one seemingly eternal moment where Akiteru was able to say goodbye to his brother before the fist connected with his jaw, and the foot connected with his ribs. He dropped to the ground, doubled over in pain. 

Sharpening his focus to the foes in front of him, Akiteru took a few more hits to the body before he rolled his way out of range of another kick to the ribs. He weaved his way between the enforcers, using his agility to get out of the way of the slow, lumbering bulk that they carried around. His fist connected with one soft spot, then another, and another, until Akiteru's fists were red, they ached with effort and his lungs burned with victory while his ribs stabbed him with pain every breath he took. 

He stared down his superior with a clear message: Don't Come Find Me. 

Akiteru's confident stride crumbled until he was stumbling into a small alley halfway across the city in no-man's-land, when he broke down crying from the pain of the fight and his brother finding out that his brother was a dirty traitor. He felt a set of eyes on him after he had reached the point of no return. Turning towards the faint burn at the back of his head, he looked into Kei's face, and he swore that he saw fat tears behind thick glasses as he shattered illusions of being a great big brother to the boy who idolized him. Before Kei ran away completely, Akiteru saw a brand new baseball glove drop to the ground, and it broke his heart.

He passed out to the sound of ambulances coming close to his alleyway, the pain finally overtaking him.


	6. Thirty Four, III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After listening to the news, Akiteru escapes the office.

Akiteru stares blankly at his stack of papers, fighting an elevated heart rate as he listens to the news on the radio. Someone two cubes down tuned it to a news station, the information detailing some of the yakuza conflicts that actually made it to the mainstream news. It sounds like too much of a team effort for it to be related to Shiratorizawa, who value strength and honour over teamwork, so after internally listing all the Tokyo families that he's aware of, he guesses it’s Nekoma. This is nearly as bad for him as if Karasuno itself showed up on his doorstep. He knows the truth, that only a fraction of these disciplinary actions and retaliations ever became known to the public, and those on the inside never spoke of the others. 

Old habits die hard, Akiteru supposes, as his mouth is glued shut at this knowledge and the sharp pain stabs his chest as he remembers boots connecting with his torso. The decades-old fear that he never fully shook overtakes his voice and limbs, until he snaps, "Turn that shit off." 

Sato looks at him with wide eyes, and tries to explain, "Look, I'm just trying to listen to the news." 

Akiteru's answering glare is enough to silence most protests. It isn't enough to silence everybody, as Shibayama adds, "Look, what's your problem? You're never like this, Tsukishima." Shibayama’s confusion echoes throughout the office onlookers, all of whom know Akiteru as the easy-going, friendly guy.

Akiteru stands to look Shibayama in the eye, even though it requires looking down at almost an extreme angle. "I lost my brother to yakuza." 

He deliberately neglects to mention that his brother joined of his own accord, and he himself received a beating within an inch of his life when he tried to leave. There is enough truth in his statement that the younger man backs down easily.

Looking at his phone, Akiteru decides that it is close enough to lunch time that he needs a break, and he knows exactly where he wants to go. 

Akiteru isn’t shy about the fact that he’s a coward and works as a desk jockey. Being a stock broker is perfect, because he's anonymous and the bulk of his work is done in the peace of his cubicle. He curses himself for his stupidity in going back to the ramen shop, alone, without any witnesses or backup against the legendary Little Giant of Sendai. Still, Udai had gotten out, and the ghost of the blade near his ribcage serves as proof of that. Therefore, he understands what Akiteru is still going through years later, at least on some level. 

It’s how Akiteru finds himself sitting at a small booth, waiting to get food. There’s something safe in how none of the Tokyo families (or even the Sendai families with reach into the capital) really venture into this section of Shibuya for the shadier business dealings, leaving it as a haven for deserters such as him. 

Udai had learned some level of customer service skills in the years since Akiteru had not been active. There’s an agreeable smile that takes over the bottom half of his face. However, he isn’t able to completely mask the anger at seeing Akiteru in his tiny ramen shop haven. If eyes were daggers, Akiteru would have been stabbed as soon as he set foot through the door. Udai's longer, wavy hair gives him the look of a tiny, fluffy kitten whose fury only makes him look adorable, but hides the lethality that Akiteru knows still bubbles under the smaller man's skin. 

Udai practically throws the bowl in front of Akiteru. "Why are you still here?" Udai hisses as menacingly as possible. 

Akiteru picks up an egg half with his chopsticks. "Call me curious. I know how I got out, I wonder what's your story." It’s a half truth, but enough that Akiteru's heart rate doesn't spike and he's able to keep his breaths even. 

Udai rolls his eyes. "You're fucking annoying." 

Akiteru digs into his noodles with gusto, and almost forgets the presence of the grumpy man serving tables.

Akiteru leans back, catching his breath after slurping his noodles in seconds flat. He peers across the small shop to where Udai watches him, wary as ever. After a calculating pause, Udai moves forward and slides in to the other side of the booth. 

"You're not going to leave me alone, are you?" Udai leans on his hands, forming a protective barrier between him and Akiteru. 

Akiteru gestures towards his bowl, chopsticks still in hand. "This is good ramen, of course I'm going to come back." The flippant response leaves his mouth without his permission, and it spikes his blood pressure until Akiteru hears his pulse inside his ears. 

His only answer is Udai rolling his eyes. 

The adrenaline coursing through his veins is exhilarating, not nerve-wracking, and Akiteru wants more. 

Akiteru returns to the shop every day for lunch, always getting the same thing, and offers the same friendly smile as normal. It's a gradual change, but Udai shifts from being downright frigid, to neutral, until it settles somewhere suspiciously close to friendly. 

After a while, Natsu-chan insists on following Akiteru to the shop, and barely contains her excitement at the sight of Udai coming around the corner. After she places her order (miso, compared to Akiteru's favourite tonkatsu), Natsu-chan skips to the bathroom. 

Udai leans in with a pitcher of water, and asks, "What's your girlfriend's problem?" 

Akiteru huffs. "For one, she's not my girlfriend, she's more like a little sister at work." He doesn't miss how Udai deflates in relief. "And secondly, she saw how you recognized me. Her brother is a fan." 

Udai's eyes widen as he quickly looks around. "I haven't done anything to warrant fans, though." He warily looks at the bathroom door, which had yet to open, and Akiteru hears the panicked hitch in his breath. 

"Yeah, well, he's a piece of work, so do what you like with that information."

Udai's relief and subsequent wry smile makes Akiteru's heart skip a beat, and it isn't out of fear. 

Right around the time that he starts getting tired of ramen is the first time that Akiteru sees a genuine smile fill Udai's face, as the incredulous huffs of laughter escape his lips. "All you're doing right now is convincing me that you're all looks and no substance." Udai goes to grab another serving of noodles. 

Akiteru's eyes shoot up, an affected look of surprise on his face. "You're telling me I'm pretty?" He simpers and does his best to look innocent. 

Udai's face brightens with suppressed laughter, and if Akiteru hadn't personally seen him in action, he would not have known what the small man is truly capable of. "You're a little shit head." Udai mimes hitting Akiteru with the back of his hand, stopping short before he actually makes contact. 

"Says the one who is actually little." Akiteru has to duck his head into his bowl to dodge the playful strike, or else he would have gotten hit for real. 

The shop is otherwise dead, and so Udai takes a seat across from Akiteru as he picks away at the remnants of noodles and corn floating in the remaining broth. The dull, grey eyes from his memory is now replaced with a mischievous sparkle, and Udai's defensive posture still holds a challenge, but without the hostility. The smile finally reaches his eyes, which masks the crows feet Akiteru knows are there.

As Akiteru does his best to choke down more noodles he really doesn’t want, Udai shoves a scrap of paper in front of him, his email written in messy, rushed handwriting. Akiteru looks at his newest friend, still slurping at his mass of noodles, who looks at him with an amused expression. “I figured this was the least fattening way for us to hang out.”

Akiteru swallows his food, and places a hand over his heart. “My, my, Udai. First you call me pretty, and then you call me fat. Can you make up your mind?”

Udai’s face twitches. “Call me Tenma.” He rises from the booth, but before he makes his way to the kitchen, Tenma leans in close to Akiteru’s ear. “And who says I don’t think fat is pretty, Tsukishima-san?” He drawls out the honorific so that his soft breath sends shivers down Akiteru’s spine.

After Tenma stalks away to the kitchen, Akiteru uses the scrap of paper to send his first message.

_Me: Call me Akiteru._


	7. Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akiteru plays catch with his brother.

"Nii-chan, let's play catch!" Akiteru looked down at Kei, who was running around the park energetically. He looked just as he did right before he started school, wide-eyed and cheerful. It was heartening to see Kei so energetic, because he normally was a sedate boy, often at the library looking at picture books of dinosaurs while he was off working. Seeing their mother out of bed more often than not was definitely affecting them all positively.

The ball that he held in his hands was beaten and worn, acquired when Akiteru had hidden a package for Ukai-sama in Shiratorizawa territory for the promise of money, which allowed him to buy two baseball gloves and a bat that had all seen better days. Akiteru didn't ask what was in the box, but he knew it was nothing good, considering the rumours about the neighbourhood figure. Still, as he tossed the ball to his younger brother, Kei's smile made his small misdeeds seem almost all right, reminding him that the life that had left their mother when his father hung himself after the stock bubble burst was slowly coming back with every job he took.

He was only eleven, but Ukai-sama already had Akiteru doing small jobs, for just enough money that Kei never had to feel the sting of hunger that Akiteru had at his age. Ukai was tough, but fair, and Akiteru was proud to be a part of the Karasuno group. At this age, he might be too young to seriously think about which tattoos he would decorate his body with, but he was committed to doing his best to make sure Kei wouldn't have to deal with the hardship that he was forced to endure. He had been ogling the blue dragon on the boss's arm, coiled around the arm and itself as if it were a brain-teasing puzzle. As he looked at his brother's gap-toothed smile that held no worries, he knew that it was the right choice; he was protecting his brother from the harsh reality of the world.

Kei was never an exuberant child, but he was expressive and kind in a way that made Akiteru want to cushion him from the dark terrors of the real world in which he lived. His widened eyes looking at his older brother gave Akiteru the push he needed to do whatever it took to keep his family safe. The ends definitely justified the means Akiteru was going through in order to make ends meet.

"Try whipping your hand down as you complete your throw. You'll get a tougher throw."

The ball made a harder thump into Akiteru's mitt, and Kei roared in victory. He was silenced as Akiteru returned the throw, the ball ricocheting off the corner of Kei's glove and careened off to the side. It didn’t roll off into the streets, but it did lightly hit the side of the house, and a precariously hung piece of siding finally broke free and fell to the ground. Akiteru winced, as that was at least three jobs from Ukai-sama to find the funds to fix that piece alone. Instead of worrying about the money, he turned to his brother.

"Easy there, raptor boy. You need to open your hand a little more and cradle the ball as it comes." Kei pouted at the name and the advice, but as Akiteru demonstrated on the return throw, his eyes lit up with wonder.

Akiteru was selling his soul to the yakuza, but if it could protect Kei’s innocent smile, he was sure that the sacrifice was worth it.


	8. Thirty Four, IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akiteru returns to Sendai for a not-relaxing holiday.

Akiteru's eyes open with a start, and he lifts his head from its contorted position, having dropped forward in his Shinkansen nap. His mother is now in a better place mentally and financially than what he experienced growing up, but Sendai leaves a bitter taste in his mouth, and his paranoia runs deep. Going home for Bon is always a difficult conundrum as a result, but he would light his usual lantern for Kei, hoping that his little brother will find his way back someday. 

(He briefly recalls the idea of how it's not paranoia if they're actually out to get you before shoving that thought away forcefully.) 

Stepping out onto the platform, he winds his way through the crowds until he finds his mother, smiling wide and looking the best that Akiteru had ever seen her. He envelops her in a large hug, leaving his suitcase on the ground beside him. It had been a long time since she had been at her worst, but it’s still heartening to see her do so well. As he hugs her tightly, she squeaks at the force of it.

He puts his suitcase into the trunk of the car, and his mother pipes up, "I saw Kei in the grocery store the other day." Her voice dips in enthusiasm as she mentions her younger son. 

Akiteru closes the lid, serious look on his face. "Did he come over and talk?" His vision of Kei was of an eager child with a moderate amount of energy, not the hardened gangster he has become. 

His mother shakes her head as she slides into the driver's seat. Akiteru face falls, and he catches the beginnings of tears in her eyes. "I feel like I'm a bad parent. Like it's my fault he's a yakuza."

He hears the unspoken, _that both my boys were yakuza_ , but chooses to look elsewhere. 

"Kei is in his late twenties, and he’s smart enough to have survived this long. If it’s anyone’s fault he’s a yakuza, it’s his own.” Akiteru pushes back the passenger seat to allow for his long legs.

His mother grips the steering wheel tightly, and loosens her hold just as she pulls out of the train station parking lot. “You know, the murder rate might actually be higher now than what is was before you went into the hospital.” She flicks the indicator on, and turns left.

His heart clenches at the memory of being hospitalized, laid up with several broken ribs, massive internal bleeding, and hands mangled to the point where he had to re-learn how to use them through physical therapy. Akiteru scans the street corners and alleyways for faintly familiar faces looking to do him harm, afraid of a repeat encounter. He flexes his fists and toes to remind himself that he can still use his hands, and his feet can still carry him away from a fight, if it really comes down to it. 

To his relief, their car isn’t accosted on the silent drive home, but it’s exactly the reason that Akiteru hates coming back to Sendai. His senses are wired to look out for danger so that he’s in a near-permanent state of not being able to breathe properly and his limbs feeling like they were home to a nest of fire ants, all while being frozen in place. His mother parks the car in the driveway, and Akiteru scans the yard for things to work on, a way to get rid of his nervous energy.

After dropping his bag into his old bedroom, he quickly changes into clothes meant for yard work, as well as a hat to keep himself cool. After he calls out to his mother about going outside, Akiteru takes in the humid, August air, and begins scanning the outdoors. A few shrubs grow haphazardly, the garden beds need weeding, and the roses, while well cared for, still need tending. This is the best he’s seen the place look in his yearly check ins, and the routine helps settle his nerves.

He runs his hand along siding that had long been replaced. Despite this one panel representing the moment that the old man stopped keeping Akiteru in the dark about his role in the family and gave him more money for blowing up a Shiratorizawa holding, touching this spot reminded him of a time that held a sense of innocence for both Kei and himself. 

It was probably the last time that happened. 

Akiteru hears a creak, and as he moves carefully towards the sound, he hears them before he sees them. 

"Tsukki, I still don't understand why you do this every month." When Akiteru finally finds the courage to peek his head around the corner, he sees the spitting image of Natsu-chan. It’s not his first time seeing Shouyou in the flesh, but the manic gleam in his eyes always unsettles him. 

"Of course you wouldn't understand," Kei mumbles to himself more than anything. He chews on the piercings on the edge of his lip while fiddling with the hem of his short sleeves, wearing his tattoos openly. His forearms are fully filled in, a red koi fish surrounded by lotuses on his left arm, and a snake and water motif on his right. The images are relatively innocuous and almost poetic; perseverance, bonds of brotherhood, and the power to rise above.

Shouyou turns towards Kei, an intense look on his face. "What's that supposed to mean?" He crosses his arms, right over left, so that the oni is clearly visible, but only sections of the severed head can be seen. The ostentatious reds and oranges coordinate nicely with Shouyou’s bright red hair, loudly proclaiming his deeds through his sleeveless shirt in August. A chill runs down Akiteru’s spine; it's clear this man holds no remorse for anything he had done. 

"You were the one who took the hit on Yamaguchi." Kei's voice cracks slightly even if his face remained impassive. Akiteru covers his mouth at the news: he had liked Tadashi. 

Shouyou unfurls his arms, and places his hands over Kei's. "He was trying to separate us. I thought you cared about me?" 

Kei doesn’t reply to that statement. Instead, he looks over the entire house. For a brief moment, he locks eyes with Akiteru, just long enough for the sun to catch off the metal in his eyebrows, ears and lip, but keeps enough of a poker face as to not even twitch to give away Akiteru’s position. Shouyou is still unaware that there were witnesses to their exchange, chattering away cheerfully. Kei turns away, and moves towards the nice looking car parked across the street.

After a healthy wait, Akiteru runs back into the house, where he nearly trips over a thick manila envelope. It’s unmarked, but it has the unmistakable feel of a considerable amount of cash inside. Before he can set it down on an actual surface, his mother rounds the corner. 

"My baby is still in there somewhere, this is proof." Tears well up in her eyes, but don’t fall.

Akiteru sets the package down, and brings her in for a hug. "I just saw him." She sobs against his chest, and tears run silently down his own face. "I can tell he's trapped, but he's holding on." 

It isn't a hopeful thought, but it’s something relatively positive that Akiteru can hold onto.


	9. Twenty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akiteru goes off to university.

After he had thrown his Karasuno knife in the Hirose river as soon as he was released from the hospital, Akiteru was ready for a fresh start. He spent the majority of his time trapped in his mother’s house, not really going outside except for a short jaunt every week to get some fresh air. He filled his time with studying, exercising, anything, anything, to get out of Sendai and away from the danger that pervaded his life. It took him a year, but shortly before his twentieth birthday, he passed the entrance exam to a decent, but not great, university on the other side of the country.

Akiteru paused along the sidewalk, looking at the quad in front of him. His rent in Osaka had been paid months in advance, in cash, as he scrimped and saved in his final year in the family to be able to afford an apartment by himself. Students milled about, going from table to table to join the clubs offered by the school. He longed to be one of those students without a care in the world, before it hit him: he was. 

Excitement bubbled within him as he perused the tables, striking out several possibilities before he even approached. Swimming required too much exposed skin, and most of the sports teams required more technical skills than he possessed. He did see a booth for a multi-sport recreational league, a sparsely decorated table. Judging from the boredom of the person minding the booth, they were hurting for members, and so he went for it. 

As soon as the student running the booth aw Akiteru approach, his eyes lit up, and he smiled impossibly wide in relief. “You’re actually looking to join?” His words were laced with caution despite the smile on his face.

“Yeah, I’m not looking for anything strenuous, I just want to get out once in a while.” The memory of feeling trapped in his mother’s house is recently enough that he had to suppress a shudder. He certainly didn’t want to go back to that.

The other student introduced himself as Takahashi, and gave Akiteru the date and time of the first meeting.

When he got there, Takahashi set a volleyball in Akiteru’s direction, and he spiked it with every ounce of his being. He never thought of himself as a great player, but it was always one of the more fun sports in his gym class.

"Hey, you're pretty good at this," Takahashi pointed out. "And you say you weren't in a club during high school?" 

Akiteru shook his head. "I didn't have the time." 

He only noticed his mistake when he caught Takahashi's disbelieving looks in his direction. Akiteru backpedalled, and added, "My family needed me to work, and I didn't have time for anything else." 

It wasn't quite a lie, but it was a different family than the one he led Takahashi to believe. Akiteru was lucky: Ukai's reliance on children for his dirty work forced him to allow time for school in order to not look suspicious, so Akiteru was able to attend high school. After the loneliness he experienced wandering his Sendai high school hallways, he was more than eager to hold onto whatever friendship he could hang on to. 

High school - his first year was non-descript and busy enough that he barely saw his nine year old brother between jobs and homework, but he managed to scrape a passing grade among the violence that Karasuno was known for. It only became anywhere close to fun when Saeko came in his second year. 

Takahashi clapped his hand across Akiteru's shoulders, his moist shirt soaking up even more of the sweat running down his back. It felt good to be accepted as the kind, if slightly wimpy teen. 

Using the hem of his shirt to wipe the sweat off his face, Akiteru caught Takahashi taking in his defined abs with sceptical eyes. "You sure you didn't play sports?" 

Akiteru laughs. "No, I worked on a farm." 

The lies came naturally, and Akiteru was sure that they would eventually bite him in the ass, but for the moment, he would chase the feeling of belonging.


	10. Thirty Four, V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akiteru hangs out with Saeko.

Akiteru takes up his usual spot at the bar near the wall. Saeko gravitates toward the area, partly because of the gear required to mix drinks, but she gets to hang out with her friend while on shift. He’s content with sipping his draught beer, watching as people filter in and out of the establishment. It passes the time way better than staring at his mother's living room walls for the entire time that he’s home, and it’s good to see his old friend. Saeko makes friends easily, her boisterous cheer disarming any tension in short order. With friendly connections in each of the major families in Sendai (and even a few in Tokyo), there’s an unspoken rule that family business stays outside on the streets where it belonged.

(If they don't comply, they meet her little brother Ryuu, who’s happy to bring them in line with his fists.)

As a result, Akiteru feels relatively safe in the bar.

He smiles at his phone as he receives an email from Tenma, showing a picture of a seagull digging into an ice cream cone twice the size of its body.

_Tenma: saw this today, thought of you._

Akiteru laughs at the teasing. The sheer amount of ramen that he ate as a pretense to get close to Tenma had resulted in a little extra weight around his middle. Saeko perks up, and she leans over the bar in order to try and get a glimpse of his screen.

"Who's the girl?" Saeko's forehead nearly touches Akiteru's shoulder as she scrambles for a look, and she only has one foot on the ground in order to reach farther.

Akiteru moves his phone away dramatically. "Not a girl."

Saeko's eyes widens in curiosity. "So what's your boyfriend's name?"

"Not my boyfriend either." Akiteru turns his attention toward sending a suitable cheery response to the email. "But his name is Tenma."

Akiteru turns back towards the bar as soon as he hits send, as a silent Saeko is a dangerous Saeko. She greets him by propping her face on her elbows, a soft smile on her face. "You know, you're adorable when you're happy?"

Akiteru sighs, and takes a moment to process what she said. He picks up his beer glass, spins around on his stool, and after opening the camera, holds his phone at arm's length in order to capture the two of them in a selfie. Saeko eagerly leans to the left as Akiteru lifts his glass to salute his front camera. She gives a peace sign, and his cheeks are flushed, but it’s an overall flattering photo. A few taps later, he sends it to Tenma.

The reply is nearly instantaneous.

_Tenma: I didn't know you were dating Tanaka-san._

He quickly puts down the glass, and leans over his phone to quickly type out a reply. 

_Me: she's just a friend!_

Akiteru frantically types out an additional response. 

_Me: one of the few I have here._

Saeko’s in full gossip mode, eagerly watching the scene in front of her. "Trouble in paradise?"

Akiteru rudely gestures in Saeko’s direction without looking away from his phone, waiting for a reply. 

_Tenma: Good, because you would have been giving me mixed messages otherwise._

Akiteru releases the breath he didn't know he was holding, and another email comes in almost as quickly as the first, with a link to a video. 

_Tenma: Because I thought you were this seagull._

He takes a sip of his beer as he starts the video, only to choke as he watches the seagull swallow a hot dog whole. In the brief moment where Akiteru drops his phone in order to cough up a lung, Saeko steals his phone, and replays the video for herself. She pockets the phone with a cackle as the door opens. A group of rowdy men enter the bar, followed by Kei and Shouyou. His brother is not only head-and-shoulders above the rest in height, but also by far the most quiet. 

Saeko raises her arms in celebration, the outline of Akiteru's phone visible in her jeans pocket. "Ryuu! Yuu! It's great to see you!" Her jewelry jingles to punctuate her point. 

The shorter ones of the group are excited to see Saeko and content to ignore Akiteru, but Kei's eyes never leaves his brother. Ryuu and Yuu are the type that Akiteru thought his brother would be disgusted by not long ago. He forcibly reminds himself that the Kei he knew was almost fifteen years gone, and replaced by this tall, bespectacled man he didn’t truly know. The moment he witnessed the day before had shown him a bare glimpse of what was underneath the facade, but the mask is in full force in Saeko's bar. 

Akiteru tears his attention away to look at Shouyou, whose arm curls up along Kei’s side, resting his hand on the taller man’s shoulder, almost hanging off of him. He looks at Akiteru like a choice piece of meat and when Kei notices the look in his boyfriend’s eyes, he leans down to whisper in his ear. Shouyou’s face goes from curious, to surprise, to downright devious, and Kei simply shrugs off the attention.

Whatever Kei had said to Shouyou helps Akiteru, as Shouyou now looks like he wanted to climb Kei like a tree. Akiteru doesn’t exactly want to think of his baby brother and his romantic exploits. Instead, he downs the rest of the beer in his mug, and returns it to Saeko. “Anyway, I should be going.” He holds out his right hand for his phone.

Saeko moves her hand towards her pocket, but as she reaches in, she intentionally moves her hand more slowly. A good half-minute later, her fingers barely touched the upper edge of the screen. She challenges him to take charge, a shit-eating grin on her face. Akiteru simply taps the fingers on his right hand into his palm, wordlessly repeating his request. Cocking her head to the side, she produces the phone from her pocket, and places it into his hand with a heavy slap.

Before her hand leaves the phone case, she teases, “Have a good phone date with your boyfriend!” Her voice goes into a sing-song at the word, ‘boyfriend’, and it’s enough for Akiteru to shoot her a rude hand gesture as he walks away. 

Kei watches him carefully as he walked away, followed by Shouyou whispering, "Traitor."


	11. Twenty One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akiteru gets a girlfriend.

Kimura Yui was in the same macroeconomics class as Akiteru, and due to his status as a ronin, she was a full two years younger than him. Her soft, dark hair cascaded in waves down her back, and it took a bunch of effort for Akiteru to actually focus on the class material, but since he didn’t consider himself a creep, he managed the impossible. Out of all the classes he attended in the late part of his second year, it would take something close to amputation for him to miss macro, which was saying something: it was a horribly dull subject.

Normally, Akiteru would curse the existence of group projects. Yes, he had skills in making friends easily, but his slightly passive nature was also the same one that made people dump all the work onto him. But when the professor assigned a partner project, and Yui turned to him with a questioning smile, Akiteru changed his tune. Group projects were the best thing ever.

He was excellent at rationalizing his questionable decisions. He forwarded the idea of using his apartment as a study spot, simply because he lived alone and they could work without interruption. The fact that he spent more time than normal deep cleaning every nook and cranny meant that his guest would likely be comfortable. He tried on his fourth outfit, not only to test how comfortable the clothes were for their study session, but to make sure his tattoos were sufficiently covered as they bent over study materials. The fact that they were some of his most coordinated casual clothing was irrelevant to the situation at hand. 

Needless to say, neither of them got much studying done.

She asked for Akiteru’s help on a topic, and he shuffled over to her across the tatami mats. He reached around her body to balance his weight as he moved in close, and she leaned backwards against his chest. He looked down at her face, an incredulous expression on his own, but he didn’t pull away. Mischief danced through her eyes, and she tossed the textbook on the table, dropping any pretense of studying.

She wrapped her arms around his neck as she pulled his face downwards, capturing his lips in a searing kiss. It was startling, but it wasn't unwelcome. Before long, he reciprocated, and he pulled her body so that it was flush with his. As she wrapped her legs around his body, she rolled her hips across his, grinding against his hard dick, until he lowered her to the floor. 

It was not his first time, but it was the first time that someone saw him not as a dangerous person to be feared and revered, but as simply Akiteru. 

Despite Yui's smile lighting up Akiteru's world between exams and assignments, he was careful to never be fully naked around her. He always went swimming with a shirt on, despite the fact that it highlighted every ridge of his defined abs, which she was always quick to notice. He was quick to nix her suggestions of onsen trips as a romantic getaway, hoping to avoid the issue his tattoo caused. When they made love completely bare, he always made sure that the room was completely dark, preventing stray rays of light from illuminating the dragon flying across his back. 

After a year, his evasiveness and his reluctance to take off his shirt with the lights on left Yui, in all her 164 centimeter glory, staring him down, jaw set in anger and frustration. It was becoming more frequent for Akiteru to see her frown rather than her smile, and it always left him feeling lacking. 

"Why are you always hiding something from me?" Her eyes betrayed her concern, but the hard line of her mouth served to guard her heart. 

Akiteru's body tensed, and bile crept up his throat as the beginnings of panic washed over him. "I don't want to talk about it." 

Yui's face softened just enough for Akiteru to lower his guard ever so slightly. “I want to help, but I can’t unless you let me in.”

The fear threatened to spill out of his eyes through his tears, and Akiteru nervously ran his fingers over his knuckles as he slumped forward. Taking a few deep breaths, and settling his heart rate into something that didn’t resemble a jackhammer, he looked her in the eyes, and whispered, “Please don’t hate me after this.”

Slowly, Akiteru crossed his arms and began to pull the shirt over his head. It was not a direct description of his own misdeeds, as he remembered grey eyes and a dead stare from somewhere near his chest. Instead, the blue dragon, meant to symbolize his own intelligence and wisdom within the family, became a representation of all the regrets and lost opportunity from his wasted teenage years. 

With the final pull of fabric over his face, Akiteru stood to his full 185 centimeters in an attempt to silence the screaming in his brain placing him back on the streets of Sendai, where he could get more broken bones and a further fractured mind. His eyes tracked her movement, as she fully examined his newly-bare skin, until she gasped in horror at the sight of his tattoo.

Yui looked at him, petrified, and Akiteru tried to crouch down and comfort her. “I’ve left, I’m not going to go back.” His quick refrain tapered off as the fear didn’t leave her face, even as he tried to explain how he had gotten away by pointing out his scars and gnarled knuckles.

None of his words helped make her stay, and nothing he could do made her turn back.

He collapsed at his table, banging his hand down like a judge’s gavel, the meat of his clenched fist soaking up all her disdain as his tears dropped onto the surface.


	12. Thirty Four, VI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They bone, and the fic finally earns its rating.

Akiteru sets his bags down past the genkan, and after shucking his shoes in favour of a well-worn pair of slippers, he finds Akachan sprinting towards him from around the corner. He picks her up like a baby, and her calico fluff spills over his arms. Her eyes widen, but before she could squirm and do some actual damage to his body, Akiteru sets her gently on the floor. He tosses his clothes from the holiday in the washer, and sits in his favourite seat in the living room, a half-read book already on the side table. 

The view from the window isn't the best, but it lets in enough light that Akiteru doesn't need lamps to read during the day. The warm sunlight filtering in feels great against his skin, and he closes his eyes to bask in the glow. His eyes become delightfully heavy with an impending nap. 

He’s jolted from dozing off by Akachan jumping onto his lap, and just as she settles into a kitty doughnut, his phone vibrates in its spot. Picking up his phone, Akiteru checks his email.

_Tenma: Back home? Was it a relaxing trip?_

Akiteru snorted at Tenma’s cheekiness. The little shit head knows full well that Sendai is far from a relaxing trip for him.

_Me: Relaxing is not exactly the word I would use to describe visiting mom._

Akiteru tries to think of something witty to send immediately to Tenma, but the other man has quicker fingers than he does.

_Tenma: Want to relax over coffee?_

Akiteru’s heart jumps at the implication, and tries not to read too deeply into the meaning of those five words.

_Me: Is after work tomorrow okay?_

_Tenma: (∗´꒳`)_

The following day, as Akiteru speeds through his work, he barely notices Natsu-chan looking at him curiously from her cubicle across the way. He whistles a tuneless melody as he puts the finishing touches on his work. By the time his boss goes to pile more on his desk just as he’s about to leave, Akiteru takes his suit jacket, slings it over his shoulder, and waves goodbye cheekily.

He rushes to the coffee shop where he’s due to meet up with Tenma, and finds him reclining at a table, one leg draped over the arm of the chair, reading a newspaper and drinking a rather large coffee. Akiteru’s face flushes at the sight of the other man, and not just because he finds the other man attractive. While that certainly is the case, it’s more that Tenma is unperturbed at wearing a military jacket heavily covered with patches in the middle of a Tokyo summer, and Akiteru sympathizes. Still, Tenma carries himself with an air of confidence that Akiteru can never achieve, but that doesn’t stop him from trying.

Sitting down across from the shorter man, Akiteru takes in Tenma’s bright smile as he sits up straight and sets down the paper. He’s momentarily speechless as he drapes his suit jacket across the back of the chair, and rests his arms along the edge of the table. Tenma leans forward and takes Akiteru’s hands into his, and Akiteru’s mind blanks as his senses short-circuit at the contact.

By the time Akiteru’s brain switches back on, Tenma is leading him away from the coffee shop, and he cheers internally that at least he had the presence of mind to grab the suit jacket before he struggled to keep pace with the shorter man. The familiar streets and alleyways close to his apartment whiz by at a frantic pace, so Akiteru tugs Tenma until he’s finally stationary as soon as the idea hits him. He drops his voice, whispering into Tenma’s ear, “My apartment isn’t far from here, if you want to come in.”

The hungry look that Tenma gives Akiteru is enough that now it's the shorter man's turn to be dragged along the back alleys of Tokyo, winding their way closer to Akiteru’s home. They stop frequently, often in a secluded spot not visible from the street, so that Tenma can pull Akiteru down into a passionate kiss that makes him take every effort not to ravish him right then and there within public view. He tears himself away each time, trying to get home, until finally, they make it.

Akiteru stumbles back into his apartment, Tenma's weight heavy on him as he uses narrow hips as a perch for his legs. He steadies the other man with his arms, holding Tenma close as he worships his lips with his own. It’s been forever since Akiteru let himself get so close to another person, and even more exhilarating that it was with Tenma, dangerous and entrancing. 

Tenma peels himself away from Akiteru to deftly open the buttons on the other's buttoned-down dress shirt, and Akiteru takes a moment to drop the heavily patched jacket, lift the long-sleeved t-shirt, and reveal the mass of cherry blossoms dotting Tenma's torso, their fragile beauty at odds with the silvery scars and the strong man in his arms. He hops off of Akiteru's hips, and drags him towards the bed by the tie, which he opts to leave on. 

With his shirt gone, Tenma circles around Akiteru, tracing the lines of the blue dragon on his shoulders, and the circuitous route of its long body as it coils in and around itself. Akiteru shivers under the gentle touch that follows the familiar image across his back. He softly kisses Akiteru's spine, right where the dragon straightened out its body between his shoulder blades, with a tenderness he hasn't seen before. 

Before Akiteru can settle into the caress, Tenma dips his fingers underneath the waistband of Akiteru's pants, and the fast friction of Tenma's fingers speeding over Akiteru's sweat-tacky skin elicits an almost embarrassing sound from his mouth. With Akiteru's body completely bare except for the tie, Tenma uses his strength to push Akiteru onto the bed in front of them. He barely had time to flip onto his back before Tenma moves forward and straddles the taller man. 

In record time, Tenma joins Akiteru in his nakedness. The cherry blossom tree branches that dip under his waistline, swirled around until the longest (and most sparse) branch reaches down almost to his right knee, and the roots of the tree taper out at the lower edge of his left thigh. Between the branches and the blossoms, there’s very little bare skin left on Tenma's torso, and as Akiteru traces the lines of flowers dotting skin, he uses his free hand to guide Tenma down into a tender kiss. 

At the gentle contact, Tenma’s hips buck forward until his muscles ripple and Akiteru answers in the same way, his cock slipping between Tenma’s cheeks from where the smaller man perches on his lap, holding him in place so that they both sit upright on the bed. With a groan, Tenma burrows his head into Akiteru’s neck, and softly bites down, all while using Akiteru's tie as a hand hold.

The pain-pleasure radiates through Akiteru’s shoulder and into the rest of his body, so that despite his best efforts, he can’t get enough friction. Akiteru is clearly less strong than he used to be, because as he tries to gain the upper hand and dominate the situation, Tenma uses every ounce of strength that he possesses to keep Akiteru where he is: face to face, sitting free, and at Tenma’s mercy. Akiteru throws back his head, angling his neck so that Tenma had access to more length, and props himself up on his hands.

Tenma peels himself off of Akiteru’s sweaty torso, twists around to rustle through his jacket pocket until he found what he was looking for, a small plastic bottle and a single condom. Sitting back onto Akiteru’s knees, Tenma gives him a mischievous look, and Akiteru abandons his position, surging forward to grab his partner’s face. As Akiteru pulls himself closer, Tenma groans and drops the supplies at his sides, pulling Akiteru’s shoulders closer to him.

Nails dig into Akiteru’s back, the delicious burn moving down until deceptively strong arms hold the taller man upright when he wants to melt backwards and ride out the pleasure. It takes every ounce of effort for Akiteru not to drop his hands, steady his grip on Tenma’s waist, and thrust upwards against him.

Tenma loosens his tight grip around Akiteru’s waist, and grabs the bottle of lube where it lay, abandoned beside him. He drips a liberal amount over his fingers, and as Tenma moves his fingers in a way to attempt to spread the viscous liquid evenly, Akiteru’s eyes widen at the reality unfolding before him. He had spent a few of his nights in Miyagi, alone in his mother's house, dreaming about having Tenma in his bed; the tangible man on his lap is no mere fantasy.

Akiteru bucks into Tenma’s slick grip, curling his body around the smaller man, unleashing a long, low groan into his shoulder. He nearly protests the loss of Tenma’s thighs weighing him down. There's the unmistakable crinkle of a foil packet, and Tenma's slick hand rolls the condom on. Akiteru's head spins with the sensations running through his body and settling deep at the base of his dick.

With a final grip to put Akiteru into position, Tenma relaxes himself as he begins his slow descent downwards. Words fail, so Akiteru takes his hands to caress Tenma’s face as he brings him in for a tender kiss. Tenma shudders under Akiteru’s hold, and it takes a considerable amount of self restraint not to bury himself to the hilt. Instead, Akiteru opts to wrap his arms around Tenma as he mouths at his collarbone, suckling at the tender skin there.

With every agonizing centimeter that Tenma takes in, his breath hitches, and there are a few points along his descent that Akiteru can’t stop the twitch in his hips, the urge to bury himself in the smaller man overwhelming his senses. Instead, Tenma grabs Akiteru’s chin, forcing the blond to look him directly in his eyes, the blown pupils overriding whatever impatience and discomfort is coursing through his veins. Akiteru had seen Tenma while intense and entrancing, but what he had seen in the past was nothing compared to what he is experiencing now; this is a sight meant for him and him alone.

By the time Tenma’s ass makes contact with Akiteru’s thighs, the pair lets out a breath neither of them realize they were holding. Tenma gives an experimental wiggle, and Akiteru fights to hold on and catch his breath. Instead, Tenma grabs Akiteru’s shoulders, slick hand and all, and begins moving.

Taking this as a sign of encouragement, Akiteru thrusts upwards, eliciting a delicious groan from the smaller man. He returns the favour by sinking sharply down, until Akiteru is malleable underneath him, and his hips roll so that he can take even more inside. Curling his fingernails against Akiteru’s skin, Tenma moves in a steady rhythm. The piercing burn on Akiteru’s flesh only serves to make him thrust harder, so that he bottoms out in Tenma. Tenma’s returning push makes Akiteru moan loudly at the sensation.

By the time Tenma settles into a steady, quick rhythm, Akiteru is unable to tell who is making what sound. Akiteru remains curled up against the smaller man, his head resting against Tenma’s shoulder as he ruts into him. Akiteru lets the symphony of their voices release all the hurt and want stored up in their bodies as he holds on to Tenma for dear life. 

As Tenma shifts on his lap, he tenses around Akiteru as he lets out a primal groan. His rounded back makes it so that it's difficult to meet Akiteru's thrusts as easily as before. Still, Akiteru does his best to maintain the rhythm that Tenma set. Even as his movements become more staccato and less fluid, Akiteru lifts his head to take a look at Tenma's face. 

It's contorted with effort as he chases his pleasure, but as Akiteru slows the pace enough to tilt Tenma’s head upward, he sees a forlorn look and tears in his eyes. Akiteru brushes the tears from the corner of Tenma's eye with his thumb, and bends forward to capture the shorter man in a tender kiss. 

The gentle moment creates just enough of a pause for Tenma to breathe deeply and steel his gaze. As he pulls away, he rests his forehead upon Akiteru’s, and bites his lips as he makes eye contact intense enough that the taller man shivers. Tenma grips Akiteru’s shoulders, his nails scraping against the edges of the clouds.

Tenma starts again with a brutal rhythm, and it takes every trick that Akiteru knows not to blast off right then and there while trying to keep up. Piercing grey eyes look directly into his, not flinching and barely blinking, even as Tenma cradles Akiteru’s head as he balances across his lap. Chills run through his spine, down his thighs, until it finally stops somewhere near his feet. Akiteru groans with need, but as he tries to chase Tenma’s face into a kiss, the smaller man pulls away with a smirk as he speeds up his ministrations. While Akiteru rests his head against Tenma’s shoulder in an attempt to ground himself in the flurry of sensations, his hand moves to firmly grip Tenma’s cock.

At Akiteru’s whimper, Tenma’s movements become a little more erratic. His tension overwhelms Akiteru, who groans, “I can’t--”

“Then come.” The words are barely a whisper, but the breathy quality is enough for Akiteru to let loose and do as he’s told. His vision blanks as he feels Tenma spasm around him. The sound that fills the room is deep enough that Akiteru isn’t sure who utters it, but judging from the sharp scratches along his back and the warm puddle of cum painting his stomach, that detail doesn’t really matter.

Breathless, they kiss languidly, basking in the afterglow, until Tenma recoils when Akiteru cradles his face with his hands. There isn’t much cum on his right hand, but there is enough that Tenma throws the box of tissues that were on the nightstand point blank at Akiteru’s face. As he starts the process of haphazardly cleaning up, he shudders slightly with oversensitivity as Tenma moves off him, and throwing the tissues and the tied-off condom in the general direction of the garbage can without caring if the offending items actually go in.

Akiteru positions himself so that he can lay down properly on the bed, arms spread wide for Tenma to join him, which the smaller man accepts wordlessly. He slots himself easily against Akiteru’s body, and as the beginnings of sleep seep into Akiteru’s limbs and mind, he hears it.

"Have you ever thought of getting them removed?" Tenma tilts his head up, looking at Akiteru from his spot on the bed, sprawling across Akiteru's body and using his chest as a pillow. He hangs loose-limbed as Akiteru fondly runs his fingers through his hair. 

Akiteru looked into Tenma's eyes,and quirked his eyebrow. "No?" 

For Akiteru, his tattoo is easy to cover. If he so wished, he could even keep a button-up shirt open to cover his transgressions, which is what he often does at the beach.

He runs his hand along the top of the twisted trunk supporting wind-blown blossoms, drawn densely enough across Tenma’s torso that very little bare skin remains visible. “For what it’s worth, they’re breathtaking and beautiful, just like you.”

Tenma levels a glare at Akiteru that excites his senses. “Please tell me that you did not just say something that corny.”

Akiteru unapologetically shrugs, before laughing at Tenma’s messed up hair. He falls back onto the pillow, giddy with unbridled glee, until Tenma moves swiftly up his body, his face predatory but smiling.

Akiteru peers down, and smiles into the unruly mop of black hair obscuring his vision. “If this is what being corny will get me, I will gladly be corny all day.”

Tenma answers by throwing a pillow in Akiteru’s face, punctuated by a musical laugh.


End file.
